dashboard raw-to-prompt

Purpose

Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or raw/ lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with __inputs.

When to use

Use this when someone gives you a normal Grafana dashboard export, legacy raw JSON, or a raw/ lane file and you need a prompt-safe file for the Grafana UI Upload JSON flow.

Key flags

• --input-file: repeat this for one or more dashboard JSON files.
• --input-dir: convert a directory tree. For raw/ or export roots, the default output is a sibling prompt/ lane.
• --output-file: write one explicit output file. Only valid with one --input-file.
• --output-dir: write converted files under one output tree.
• --overwrite: replace existing prompt files.
• --datasource-map: optional JSON or YAML map for repairing datasource references.
• --resolution: choose infer-family, exact, or strict.
• --profile, --url, --token, --basic-user, --basic-password, --org-id: optional live datasource lookup inputs used to augment datasource resolution.
• --dry-run: show what would be converted without writing files.
• --progress, --verbose: show progress lines or detailed per-file results.
• --output-format: render the final summary as text, table, json, or yaml.
• --log-file, --log-format: write per-item success/fail events to a text log or NDJSON log.
• --color: colorize summary output with auto, always, or never.

Workflow notes

• Single-file mode defaults to a sibling *.prompt.json output.
• Repeated --input-file flags also default to sibling *.prompt.json outputs beside each source file.
• Plain directory input requires --output-dir so generated prompt files do not mix into arbitrary source trees.
• raw/ or combined export roots default to a sibling/generated prompt/ lane and also write index.json plus export-metadata.json.
• prompt/ artifacts are for the Grafana UI Upload JSON flow. They are not valid input for grafana-util dashboard import, which still expects raw/ or provisioning/.
• If you provide --profile or other live auth flags, the command queries the target Grafana datasource inventory and prefers those live matches over staged raw inventory.

Datasource resolution

• infer-family is the default practical mode. It can repair unambiguous families such as Prometheus, Loki, or Flux/Influx from query shape.
• exact requires an exact datasource match from embedded data, raw inventory, or --datasource-map.
• exact can also succeed through optional live datasource lookup when you provide --profile or direct live auth flags.
• strict fails as soon as a datasource cannot be resolved exactly.
• When a dashboard uses multiple distinguishable datasource references, the command keeps multiple prompt slots instead of merging only by family.
• Ambiguous families such as generic SQL/search/tracing still need better source data or an explicit --datasource-map.

Placeholder model

• $datasource is a dashboard variable reference. It means the dashboard or panel is selecting a datasource through a Grafana variable named datasource.
• ${DS_PROMETHEUS} or ${DS_*} is an external-import input placeholder. It means Grafana should ask for a datasource during Upload JSON and then inject the selected value.
• These are related but not identical. A generated prompt file can legitimately contain both:
• ${DS_*} in __inputs and some typed datasource references
• $datasource in panel-level datasource fields that intentionally keep the dashboard-variable flow
• raw-to-prompt tries to preserve that distinction instead of flattening everything into one placeholder style.
• If a dashboard historically used Grafana datasource variables, the migrated prompt may still contain $datasource alongside __inputs.

Examples

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-file ./dashboards/raw/cpu-main.json

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-file ./legacy/cpu.json --input-file ./legacy/logs.json --progress

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-dir ./dashboards/raw --overwrite

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-dir ./legacy-json --output-dir ./converted/prompt --output-format table

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-file ./legacy/cpu.json --datasource-map ./datasource-map.yaml --resolution exact --log-file ./raw-to-prompt.log --log-format json

# Purpose: Convert ordinary dashboard JSON or `raw/` lane files into Grafana UI prompt JSON with `__inputs`.
grafana-util dashboard raw-to-prompt --input-file ./legacy/cpu.json --profile prod --org-id 2 --resolution exact

Related commands

• dashboard export
• dashboard import
• dashboard analyze (local)
• dashboard diff